Steve Steffy
Well-known member
It has been years since I've gone flyfishing. Not because I didn't care for it, or didn't have anybody to go with, it was simply a complete lack of time. I was finally determined to MAKE some time and get to one of my favorite fishing holes with a good friend of mine a couple hours from the home stomping grounds. It rained pretty heavily the day before, as well as part of the night. I was half tempted to postpone the trip, but that would mean another 2 weeks minimum I would have to wait to get on the water. I figured I had the day set aside to go flyfishing and I was going to do just that and make the best of it.
05:30 I awoke, dressed and made my way to the truck. I packed all of my gear the night before so I could get right on the road. I was checking stream levels at every bridge I crossed on the way down to our meeting spot. Most of them were low to begin with so they now had a decent flow with some color to them. Definitely fishable conditions by anybody's standards.
I arrived at the meeting spot and got all rigged up for my first assault on PA's trout fishery in years. I have always had decent luck on this stream and couldn't wait to wet a fly. It was flowing pretty good like all of the other streams. The water was a bit on the murky side, but that would clear as the day progressed.
I soon discovered that walking in these streams was not like your everyday walk in the park. Those rocks were slippery and unpredictable. Down I went! I only had hip boots on and my right boot quickly filled with creek water. "Oh well" I thought. "At least it's not that freezing cold."
I continued fishing my way down stream changing flies with nary a bite from the uncooperative fish below. John was supposed to pull in around 09:00, but before I knew it that time was long gone. I figured we'd find each other somewhere on the stream and I continued fishing.
Traditional nymphs and wet flies weren't doing the job, so I dug deep into my standby box of tricks. Out came the San Juan Worm and plunged into the next big hole I found. Wham! First hit of the day and out comes a beautiful brown trout. I figured the murky waters and bright red offering might just be the ticket I needed to land some fish. After a quick snapshot, he was released to fight another day. I pulled two browns out of that hole and moved on.
The next hole produced four nice rainbows to bring the total up to six. I figured I better start making an effort to find my fishing partner so walked back to the truck. After draining the water from my waders and changing into dry clothes, I drove down the road and found him fishing the same hole I had just finished fishing an hour earlier. His total for the day was seven. Not a bad day for either of us. We hit our favorite restaurant for a quick bite and headed to another stream afterward.
I decided to try out a 7 foot fly rod that I had bought years ago and never used. While I rigged up the line John was already toying with some trout. We leapfrogged each other down stream until I came to another big hole. All of my efforts went unnoticed up until this point. I tied on a Mickey Finn and was instantly rewarded for the change up with a plump rainbow. John caught up to me with a smirk on his face. "It's about time you hooked up."
"Tell me about it, this is the first so far. How'd you do?"
"I got nine." Now I know why he had the smirk on his face. I continued fishing in that hole with no further takers even with multiple change ups.
John was working another good hole so made my way downstream further where I found a dandy riffle that dumped into a deep hole where the creek took a sharps "S" curve. I tied on a Green Weenie and it was smacked on the first cast and the next. I didn't want the fighting fish to spook other fish in the pool, so I moved to the tail end where the creek curved and pulled another out. I fished that pool for the rest of the evening mixing up flies and taking trout on San Juan Worms, Green Weenies, Mickey Finns and even some dry fly action with an Irresistible Adams. Total catch out of that hole...fifteen rainbows!! Add that to the one trout caught from upstream and the six from the other stream and that totals my best day of flyfishing to date with 22 fish caught and released. John hit a wall after his nine and only caught one more. His total for the day was 17. Good times! Cant wait to go again. ;D
Steve
05:30 I awoke, dressed and made my way to the truck. I packed all of my gear the night before so I could get right on the road. I was checking stream levels at every bridge I crossed on the way down to our meeting spot. Most of them were low to begin with so they now had a decent flow with some color to them. Definitely fishable conditions by anybody's standards.
I arrived at the meeting spot and got all rigged up for my first assault on PA's trout fishery in years. I have always had decent luck on this stream and couldn't wait to wet a fly. It was flowing pretty good like all of the other streams. The water was a bit on the murky side, but that would clear as the day progressed.
I soon discovered that walking in these streams was not like your everyday walk in the park. Those rocks were slippery and unpredictable. Down I went! I only had hip boots on and my right boot quickly filled with creek water. "Oh well" I thought. "At least it's not that freezing cold."
I continued fishing my way down stream changing flies with nary a bite from the uncooperative fish below. John was supposed to pull in around 09:00, but before I knew it that time was long gone. I figured we'd find each other somewhere on the stream and I continued fishing.
Traditional nymphs and wet flies weren't doing the job, so I dug deep into my standby box of tricks. Out came the San Juan Worm and plunged into the next big hole I found. Wham! First hit of the day and out comes a beautiful brown trout. I figured the murky waters and bright red offering might just be the ticket I needed to land some fish. After a quick snapshot, he was released to fight another day. I pulled two browns out of that hole and moved on.
The next hole produced four nice rainbows to bring the total up to six. I figured I better start making an effort to find my fishing partner so walked back to the truck. After draining the water from my waders and changing into dry clothes, I drove down the road and found him fishing the same hole I had just finished fishing an hour earlier. His total for the day was seven. Not a bad day for either of us. We hit our favorite restaurant for a quick bite and headed to another stream afterward.
I decided to try out a 7 foot fly rod that I had bought years ago and never used. While I rigged up the line John was already toying with some trout. We leapfrogged each other down stream until I came to another big hole. All of my efforts went unnoticed up until this point. I tied on a Mickey Finn and was instantly rewarded for the change up with a plump rainbow. John caught up to me with a smirk on his face. "It's about time you hooked up."
"Tell me about it, this is the first so far. How'd you do?"
"I got nine." Now I know why he had the smirk on his face. I continued fishing in that hole with no further takers even with multiple change ups.
John was working another good hole so made my way downstream further where I found a dandy riffle that dumped into a deep hole where the creek took a sharps "S" curve. I tied on a Green Weenie and it was smacked on the first cast and the next. I didn't want the fighting fish to spook other fish in the pool, so I moved to the tail end where the creek curved and pulled another out. I fished that pool for the rest of the evening mixing up flies and taking trout on San Juan Worms, Green Weenies, Mickey Finns and even some dry fly action with an Irresistible Adams. Total catch out of that hole...fifteen rainbows!! Add that to the one trout caught from upstream and the six from the other stream and that totals my best day of flyfishing to date with 22 fish caught and released. John hit a wall after his nine and only caught one more. His total for the day was 17. Good times! Cant wait to go again. ;D
Steve
